To start, navigate to the Purchase Orders section on your sidebar, and go to "External POs" (or click here). Then click "Create PO," as shown here:
POs can also be created one by one via a spreadsheet by using our Spreadsheet Bulk Upload and clicking the "Actions" button instead of "Create PO".
Short on time? Try our AI Assist Purchase Order Tool!
Our faster, smarter way to handle POs and receiving. Change prices by margin, receive cases as singles, auto-update default costs, and more — all in one powerful tool!
PO Number, Date Created, and Date Expected fields will be pre-populated but are editable. Here's more information on each of those fields:
PO Number — This is a unique identifier for your internal tracking purposes. It will appear on the PO. If no number is selected, Thrive automatically counts up from the last highest number.
Date Created — This is the creation date for the PO. It can be backdated if necessary.
Date Expected — This is the anticipated date for receiving the PO.
The checkboxes for "Sent to Vendor" (and "Date Sent") and "Paid" help you know what's already been done.
Pro Tip
When you click the gear wheel in the top right corner and "Email PO," that will automatically check the Sent to Vendor field and notate the Date Sent.
Next, you can select your Vendor and Bill To location. Once you choose a billing location, we'll automatically assume you want the same shipping location. You can also edit the Shipping Location if that's different.
Vendor — The Vendor from whom you are ordering.
NOTE: Products must be assigned to that vendor to place a PO.
Bill To — The location designated as the billing address.
Ship To — The Location where products will be received.
Once those above fields are complete, you can start adding products! It is important to note that creating a purchase order alone will not update your catalog or sync quantities to connected sales channels. For inventory updates to take effect, you must complete these steps:
Create your purchase order.
Receive the purchase order in the system when items arrive.
Upon receiving, the quantities will automatically sync with your connected sales channels.
Your products must be assigned to Vendors in Thrive to create a PO, unless you are using our AI Assist PO Tool.
First, you'll need to create vendors or assign products to existing vendors. You can learn more here.
Adding Products to a Purchase Order
After filling out the top section of the Purchase Order (vendor, Bill to, Ship to, etc), you can start adding products!
There are four different ways to add products to your PO. It is also possible to add products to an open Purchase Order
1 ) Scan to Add Products
1 ) Scan to Add Products
Each scan will count as a +1 for that item. A successful scan will produce a pleasant chime sound from your computer.
Scan a product that does not yet exist in Thrive, and you'll see an error message at the top of the screen, along with a not-so-pleasant noise.
The ability to scan to add/receive products in a Purchase Order is included with Professional plans and above.
Chat with us for a complimentary 14-day trial and a free video call to see if the Professional Plan is right for you.
You can also manually edit the quantities. Remember to click off the quantity field when you start scanning again. This is important because the scanner mimics a keyboard in Thrive. Clicking on any blank white space in the PO will deselect any text fields and allow you to scan normally.
Have issues scanning?
We can help! Check out this Barcode Scanning FAQ article for guidance.
2) The "Add Products" Button
2) The "Add Products" Button
By clicking the "Add Products" button on the Purchase Order screen, you can filter and search to add products to your order. Once the products are entered, you can manually input the quantities you want to order. If you want to add a large number of products from a particular category or vendor, be sure to press the "Load All" as shown here:
3) Automatically Add Low Products
3) Automatically Add Low Products
Auto-Add Products Below Reorder Point — This feature applies to products with set reorder points that are currently equal to or below their reorder point.
Auto-Add Low Inventory Products — This will add products below the reorder point or currently matching an Alert.
Are there products missing from the "Add Products" selection list? Double-check items are:
✅ Enabled at the location
✅ Assigned to the Vendor
✅ The Vendor is assigned to the shipping location
We can automatically round (up or down) for you when using these options. Read more about PO rounding.
NOTE: Auto-Add features are available on Professional Plans and above.
Chat with us for a complimentary 14-day trial and a free video call to see if the Professional Plan is right for you.
4) Create a New Item
4) Create a New Item
Click "Create New Item" to add a new product to the PO. Be mindful of the default cost you input, as that will also be the cost that appears on the PO. Once you're done creating the product, you can save it to the PO by clicking "Create and Add to PO." You'll then be asked if you want to add stock counts.
If this is your first time receiving the product, click "No, save anyway."
If you need to edit the Purchase Order after it has been created, click on the PO and select edit mode. This allows you to edit Vendor SKU, Quantity, Cost, Discount, Tax, and add or remove products.
Remove a product by clicking the three vertical dots next to the product, then click "Remove Item". Add products by clicking the "Add Products" button located at the bottom of the PO.
You can add a discount to an Open PO, but the discount will not apply to the lot cost of the received items.
Products cannot be added or removed once the Purchase Order is marked as Complete.
Customizing a Purchase Order
Fees — Any additional charges related to the PO.
Freight — Used for shipping, customs, or other freight-related charges.
Product — The product being ordered
Vendor SKU — An optional field in case your Vendor has a different SKU number, or you want to add more info. The Vendor SKU will be saved and appear automatically the next time that product is added to a PO.
Quantity — The number of units being ordered.
Cost — How much you pay for each unit
NOTE: This will change if you alter the cost in the 'Total' field. See below.
Discount $ — This is a fixed "dollar amount" being deducted (e.g., $10 off per unit)
Discount % — This is a percentage discount (e.g., 10% off per unit)
Tax % — The percentage of tax being applied.
Total — The total amount you pay for the products.
NOTE: This will change if you alter the unit Cost field. See below.
Additional Options — By clicking the three vertical dots, you can either add a Note or remove the item from the PO.
NOTE: Discounts and tax % will be used to calculate the lot cost for the received items, but Fees and Freight will not. That is because we need to find a way to accurately distribute those fields across items.
For example, you could order a refrigerator and 12 tissue boxes from a vendor. Let's say that to ship more oversized items, it's $100 vs. the standard shipping fee of $15. We would need a way to allocate those shipping fees accurately. Instead of assuming the new cost for each item, we let you choose. You can manually adjust the lot cost once the item has been received. More information on editing a lot cost can be found here.
Discounts
There is also an option to add line item discounts and discounts to the entire Purchase Order. Any discount applied to the whole PO will be applied first, and any line item discounts will be applied afterward.
The line item discounts will be per unit, so be careful when inputting those discounts! The discounts applied will affect the lot cost.
NOTE: If one of your discounts can't be distributed evenly, you'll get an error message saying:
PO level discount issue: When your discount does not divide evenly across all line items, we round it down to the nearest evenly divisible discount. $(x amount) of your discount could not be applied and is not factored into the lot costs or totals.
You can still save and create the PO with the message. We are informing you that the amount could not be distributed evenly, resulting in a leftover amount. To fix it, you would need to manually redistribute the discount to each line item.
Sending to your Vendor
Once all your products have been added, you can email the PO directly to your vendor from Thrive.
Click the gear wheel in the top right corner while the PO is in any state, and you'll see the "Email PO" option as shown here:
The email address that populates will be based on the information you have entered into their Vendor profile. There's also an option to CC other email addresses and add a note, as shown below.
Download or Duplicate your PO
Download your PO as a PDF or CSV. This allows you to easily send Purchase Orders to vendors as email attachments or print them if you need a hard copy.
Or, you can duplicate a PO to reorder the same products.
POs are permanently stored in Thrive, so your records are always securely backed up.
The vendor phone number and vendor ID will be included in the PDF download.
Things to Note:
Products ordered, but not yet received, will appear on the In-Transit Report.
The Message to Vendor and Notes fields are editable at any status. (Draft, Open, Partially Received, etc.)
Vendor SKUs are editable in the Draft, Open, and Partially Received statuses. They are not editable when the status is Complete or Canceled.
The PO Number is not editable once you start receiving products on the PO.
Troubleshooting Missing Items: If you can't find specific products when creating a PO, check that the item is enabled for the location where you're creating the purchase order. Items not enabled for a location won't appear as options.
To resolve this issue, go to the 'Locations and Integrations' tab and ensure your catalog is properly cloned to the desired location.